


The Way Things Should Have Been

by Cumberbatch Critter (ivelostmyspectacles)



Category: Persona 3, Persona 3 Portable
Genre: Canonical Character Death, F/M, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Implied Relationships, Post - Persona 3 Portable
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-07
Updated: 2015-04-07
Packaged: 2018-03-21 16:56:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3699980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivelostmyspectacles/pseuds/Cumberbatch%20Critter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's an unspoken rule that no one comes to this grave alone.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Akihiko and Shinjiro at Minako's grave, one year after the events of Persona 3 Portable.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Way Things Should Have Been

**Author's Note:**

> this is au canon shhh  
> this disregards the entirety of the answer shhh  
> this disregards that shinji would have been in a coma or dead from being shot or being sick shhh
> 
>  
> 
> I watched the ending scene with Shinji and the ending scene with Aki and I just can't. This game, man. This game.
> 
> I do not own _Persona 3/P3P_. Thanks for reading!

It's an unspoken rule that no one comes to this grave alone.

It isn't for fear of vengeful spirits. It isn't for a lack of ability, or time, or anything of that nature. It was just something that they had decided on, without so much as a comment out loud, and it had been a followed rule since then.

It was also unspoken that Shinjiro would go only with Akihiko, and Akihiko would only go with Shinjiro or, on the rare case, Mitsuru.

The spring breeze is still cold this early April.

Shinji is slouched with his hands in his pockets, Aki, straight-backed with his hands balled into fists at his side. Neither of them say a word.

It's been one year since _her_ death.

Her name looks stark against the dark stone. Her name, two simple words, two words that were not meant to ever be on such a stone so early. Yet, they are. They have been, for a year, and they will continue to be indefinitely.

Shinjiro sighs.

Akihiko steps forward to wipe streaking stains from the previous rain and mud from the stone. His fingers linger on the chiseled letters of her name on the stone.

Shinji looks up at the tree spanning over the nearby graves, the leaves fluttering in the breeze. The sky is blue, and the clouds are gone. The sunshine isn't warm, but it is bright. It's just like her smile used to be.

"Damn it..." Aki's fist lands hard against the top of the grave stone. His eyes fall closed and his arm shakes, but he doesn't move.

Shinji doesn't speak. Doesn't move. When he does, it's to stoop down to eye level with the stone, his kneecaps landing into the fine green grass and dirt. He is tactfully silent, and his face gives away no indication of his emotion.

They both know that they share the same sentiment. They know that it hurts in varying ways but no different amount. Coping is just a mechanism, different to each person.

They are silent for a long while.

Shinjiro is the one to break it. "You gonna stand there and blubber all day or what?"

"... I'm not," Akihiko says dully. His voice lacks conviction, but he removes his hand from the stone. "What are you doing?"

Shinji holds his hand out in lieu of a reply. There sit several seeds in his rough, calloused hand.

"We aren't allowed to plant flowers."

"Who cares," Shinjiro retorts, and returns to his digging in the dirt.

Akihiko hesitates, but not out of regard for right or wrong. He ends up folding himself down next to his friend, holding out his hand for the seeds.

"She wouldn't like this," Aki says eventually. They have planted the seeds and collected some water from the fountain to water them. "It's been a year. She'd tell us to move on."

"Tough shit." Now Shinji is the one who subtley lacks the conviction; his words are too flat, his tone strangely exhausted. "She's gone now, she doesn't get a say."

Aki sighs wearily. "She'd say that she still has a say because she's still around us." He glances around, at the same green tree and blue sky and bright sunshine that Shinji had noticed earlier. "That she's still here with us."

Shinji says nothing. He silently agrees, if only for the fact that it wouldn't hurt so much if she still didn't have a place in their lives.

"... We gotta keep fighting." Akihiko leans back and props himself up with his hands. "For everyone... For her."

"Yeah. I ain't running away this time."

Smiling sometimes comes unnaturally after the events of a year ago, but even the slightest smile on Shinjiro and Akihiko's face is improvement. It doesn't seem like a bad day.

They sit in the bright sunshine without saying a word.

The cool April afternoon slowly gets warmer.

 


End file.
